I have to hold my hands up on this one and confess that despite many years of veg growing I had no idea it existed until reading this weeks Amateur Gardening. It is featured in the 'grow,cook & eat'section and described as having a subtle flavour. If it's so subtle why would the Cook be mixing it with Peppers and Onions?....
I've never heard of it either Pal and just put it into Google. Black salsify? Don't think I will bother growing it though, as there is a bit about 'boiling the roots being necessary to remove the bitter taste'. :rolleyes:
I've ordered some this year, and some salsify...haven't even tasted it before but thought I'd give it a go...
There was a bloke on the big dig (last year)who grew either scorzonera or salsify (can't remember which), and they said you cook it like parsnip but has a real nice flavour. I am gonna try some in a container this year and see how it goes.
I grew it last year and decided not to this year. It grew really well but I found the taste quite bland a bit like salsify (which I'm not growing either). Mind you there may be better ways of cooking both of them that I dont know about.
Just found this thread. I know this veggie but I am not really fond of it. You see it on the markets, they look like long thin black carrots, sort of finger thick. White when peeled. You sometimes see it in jars. Rather on the expensive side.
An interesting vegetable to grow instead of scorzonera is Hamburg turnip rooted parsley (Petroselinum crispum). The root is very similar to scorzonera/salsify, but not black, and has a subtle flavour somewhere between turnip and parsnip. It is good in soups, stews or roasted and the leaves look and taste like parsley. It used to be very popular in Eastern Europe - especially in chicken soup. In some parts of E. Europe it was/is known as piatrushka. -------------- shiney
Never heard of the names Hamburg turnip rooted parsley nor piatrushka (that sounds Russian) but the veggie now in question is the Wurzelpetersilie over here. Literally, Root Parsley. You see it in all of the supermarkets in season. As you say shiney, it is good in soups. I didn't know you could roast it, must try that sometime as we don't get parsnips often, more's the pity. We had no luck growing them years ago either.
Hi K-G, some of the seed merchants over here sell it as either 'Hamburg turnip rooted parsley' or 'Hamburg rooted parsley' or 'Turnip rooted parsley' ------------ shiney
I still don't know any of these English names as I never saw or heard of this veggie until I came to Germany, same goes for the scorzonera / salsify. The same goes for the celeriac. Guess it is when you see something for the first time and learn the name of it in the language of the country. Then other names sound exotic!
Hamburg Parsley is very nice I can thoroughly recommend it after growing it last year. Took a while to germinate though.
